Guidelines & Rules for Your Safety in Gastein

Safety is a top priority for skiers and snowboarders. To insure no accidents during your winter vacation, it is important to know the rules of the slopes.

Children up to age 15 are required to wear a helmet whenever they are skiing or snowboarding in Austria. Safety helmets can be borrowed at every ski schooland ski-rental business in the valley. If your children participate in a course at one of the Gastein ski schools, they will be in the very best of hands. Their highly trained instructors teach children to ski and snowboard safely, and are well-versed in first-aid techniques if ever there is an emergency situation. In this way, skiing is not only a safe experience, it also gives mom and dad the opportunity to enjoy a truly carefree ski vacation of their own.

FIS Rules of the Slopes:

1. Be considerate of fellow skiers

Every skier must behave so as not to endanger or harm other skiers.

2. Adjust your speed and style of skiing

Every skier must adjust their speed to the visibility, to their personal skill levels, to terrain, snow and weather conditions, and to the amount of "traffic" on the pistes.

3. Select the right track

The skier approaching from behind must choose a track that doesn't endanger the skier ahead of them.

4. Overtaking

You are permitted to pass from above or below, from the right or left, but you must always leave plenty of room for the skier you are passing to move freely.

5. Entering the Piste

Every skier who plans to enter the piste, or reenter the piste after having stopped, must first check above and below them to insure that they can do so without causing danger to others.

6. Stopping

Every skier must avoid stopping without very good reason in areas of the piste that are narrow or where visibility is restricted. Any skier who has fallen must leave such an area as quickly as possible.

7. Ascending or Descending the Piste

A skier either climbing the piste or making their way down the piste on foot must always use the far edge of the piste.

8. Obey Signs

All skiers must obey markings and signs.

9. Rendering Assistance

In the event of an accident, every skier is required to provide whatever assistance the situation dictates.

10. I.D. Requirement

Every skier, whether personally involved or merely a witness, must present their personal I.D. in the event of an accident.